Gathering mourns Nanjing Massacre victims

Japanese activists visit city to pay tribute to China's wartime dead

A group of Japanese citizens from cities and prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa and Kyoto took part in a gathering in Nanjing on Thursday to honor the victims killed by Japanese forces, especially those killed during the Nanjing Massacre.

The assembly by 37 Japanese and hundreds of Chinese at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Invaders - on the 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II - took place as dozens of Japanese cabinet ministers and lawmakers paid their respects at Yasukuni Shrine, seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.